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Installing multiple versions of R on Linux

Binary and Source Versions

Versions of R can be obtained by various means, the most common of which is installing a binary version from a standard apt-get (Debian/Ubuntu) or yum (RHEL) repository. Versions installed this way are nearly always located in the /usr/lib/R directory.

You may also have obtained a binary version of R from a vendor like Oracle, Revolution Analytics, or TIBCO. In those cases please consult the vendor’s documentation to determine the location where R is installed and update the relevant RStudio configuration files to point to it as described here.

To install additional versions of open-source R side-by-side with a version obtained from an apt-get or yum repository you will typically need to build R from source. The next section provides further details and recommendations on building from source.

Building Additional Versions from Source

Installing Dependencies

Installing additional versions of R side-by-side with the system version requires building R from source but is very straightforward. First, ensure that you have the build dependencies required for R. On RedHat/CentOS you’d use this command:

$ sudo yum-builddep R

On Debian/Ubuntu systems you’d use this command:

$ sudo apt-get build-dep r-base

Configuring and Building R

Once you’ve satisfied the build dependencies, you should obtain and unarchive the source tarball for the version of R you want to install. Then from within the extracted source directory execute these commands (this example assumes you are installing R 3.2.0):

Recommended Installation Directories

Open-Source RStudio Server

In the Open-Source RStudio Server, RStudio uses the version of R pointed to by the output of the which R command. If RStudio is unable to locate R using which R, it will fall back to scanning explicitly for the R script in the /usr/local/bin and /usr/bin directories. For more on this, see our article on using different versions of R here.

RStudio Server Pro

As of v0.99.715, RStudio Server Pro automatically scans for versions of R at the following locations:

In addition, RStudio Server scans all subdirectories of the following directories within /opt:

/opt/R
/opt/local/R

For example, any of the following installed versions of R will be automatically detected by RStudio Server:

/opt/R/3.1.0
/opt/R/3.2.0
/opt/local/R/3.1.0
/opt/local/R/3.2.0

If you have versions of R located at other places in the file system RStudio Server can still utilize them however you’ll need to explicitly specify their location in a configuration file. For more information, see Chapter 6: R Versions of the RStudio Server Pro Admin Guide.